PRINCIPAL & GRADES 6-8

Mr. Kevin Lorge grew up in Greenville, Wisconsin, where he attended Immanuel Lutheran Grade School and Fox Valley Lutheran High School. After graduating from FVL in 2007, he attended Martin Luther College, in New Ulm, MN. At MLC, he earned a double major in Physical Education and Elementary Education. He graduated from MLC in 2012. Prior to serving at St. Matthew’s, Mr. Lorge served as a Tutor and Instructor at Great Plains Lutheran High School in Watertown, SD, for two years. He then served for one year as a 6th-8th grade teacher and Athletic Director at Peridot-Our Savior’s Lutheran School in Peridot, AZ.

GRADES 3-5

Currently Mrs. Callies is the teacher for 3rd and 4th grade. She also teaches a few 5th grade classes plus Music in grades 6-8. She enjoys directing the two hand chime choirs. Mrs. Callies has been teaching in Iron Ridge since 2007 and enjoys all the opportunities the Lord has given her to share His Word with the children.

GRADES 5-6 PART-TIME TEACHER

Mrs. Tanya Stern grew up in south-central Minnesota, living on a farm and attending a rural two-room elementary school. She went on to Martin Luther High School in Northrop, MN, and then Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon. There she majored in Lutheran Elementary Education and minored in Spanish and ESL. Her first teaching call took her to Palatine, Illinois, where she taught 4th grade for four years. In 2007, she got married and happily came back to Wisconsin, where she taught 4th grade for one more year in Wauwatosa. For the last 16 years, she's stayed home to raise a family of four boys. She enjoys going to her sons' baseball games, reading great books, hiking at Pike Lake, and trying to raise corn and chickens. Her favorite part of teaching is highlighting how all of creation reflects its Creator!

GRADES 1-2

Mrs. Arnold currently teaches 1st and 2nd grade. She graduated from Martin Luther College in the spring of 2021 with an elementary education degree and is happy to share God’s Word with her students every day! Her favorite part of the school day is read aloud. Mrs. Arnold and her husband, Christian, live in Hartford, Wisconsin.

GRADES 4K-5K

Mrs. Schleef nurtures the littlest lambs at St. Matthew. Though she initially studied Secondary English at MLC, she has since fallen in love with early childhood education and completed her studies in this area at WLC. Growing up in rural southwest WI, she was blessed with spending a lot of her childhood outdoors, developing a deep connection to nature. She and her husband, Jared, have now shared that same love of the outdoors with their fourth beautiful children. Accordingly, Mrs. Schleef brings nature-based, play-based learning to the children of St. Matthew’s, experiencing God’s creation through hands-on discovery!

Catechism and Bible History

Nathan Schulte grew up in La Valle, Wisconsin, as one of seven children. He spent part of his childhood in Zambia, where he was homeschooled while his father worked with Kingdom Workers. Nathan graduated from Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minnesota, in 2012.

After college, Nathan volunteered as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in Lima, Peru, for a year. He then studied at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin, and served his intern year in Falls Church, Virginia. Since graduating in 2017, Nathan worked with the Latin American Mission team, serving in Mexico and Ecuador with WELS digital outreach.